All Over Albany

Items tagged with 'Price Chopper'

We've enlisted Daniel B. to survey Capital Region donuts -- and pick his favorites -- for a short series called The Best Dozen.

Donuts don't have to come from a standalone bakery. You can also find them in your local neighborhood grocery store.

The ones at Price Chopper's Market Bistro in Latham make an impression because the store's donut rack includes a variety of signature square donuts in addition to the classics. To the eye the signature donuts are reminiscent of the more famous specimens found at shops such as NYC's Doughnut Plant and elsewhere.

But are the Market Bistro donuts any good? And which ones are worthy to pack into your dozen? Well, there's only one way to find out.

Jerry Golub:We will also be updating our smaller and urban stores. The first will be our Delaware and Madison Avenue stores beginning early next year although they won't be getting the complete Market 32 identity right away. We want to introduce the complete Market 32 concept in the larger stores and then apply it to the smaller stores.

Update: We checked with a Price Chopper rep about the updates planned, and specific details aren't ready to be released yet. But the planned updates were described as part of the chain's overall modernization effort.

Price Chopper's parent company announced Tuesday morning that it's rebranding as "Market 32," part of larger campaign to modernize its stores. The "32" is reference to the chain being founded in 1932.

The company says the new stores will have "expanded food service options, an enhanced product mix and a re-emphasis on customer service."

From a press release:

"Market 32 represents the next leap forward for our company. We have evolved from the Public Service Market to Central Market to Price Chopper by responding to customers' changing needs over time and Market 32 is the next natural progression for us," said Neil Golub, Price Chopper's executive chairman of the board. "Early learnings gleaned from our Market Bistro concept store have put our next generation in an excellent position to make this move today." ...

"Market 32 combines what we are hearing from our customers and what we are learning at Market Bistro with some of the best thinking in the retail industry, and will focus on delivering a distinctively different shopping experience to our customers. Our stores will meet customers' needs today and for decades to come. Most importantly, though, we will continue to offer great value for great food and service," said Jerel Golub, Price Chopper's president and CEO.

That the Golub Corp, PC's parent company, is looking to up its game chain-wide isn't surprising. The supermarket industry is famously competitive and intense.

The new Price Chopper Market Bistro -- the company's long-planned concept store in Latham -- is just about ready for its grand opening. But you can check out much of what's new right now, as we did this week when we got a tour.

There's been a lot of change in the Capital Region supermarket scene over the last few years -- a lot of new stores, new competitors, new upgrades. But it's not a stretch to say that there is nothing else like Market Bistro in this area.

The unusually-hued crustaceans ended up at three stores in New York: Guilderland, Middletown, and Binghamton. The lobsters will be held in the stores until later this week, when the company says they'll be sent to aquariums. (Somewhere an Albany Aquarium proponent is sighing at the missed opportunity.)

Price Chopper gets its lobsters from Canada, via a Cape Cod-based company called, appropriately, Lobster Trap. A PC spokesperson tells us that the company's VP of seafood merchandising has never seen an orange lobster in his 17 years with the supermarket chain -- and their contact at the Lobster Trap has only seen one in 33 years.

After implementing a corporate-wide policy that limited the doubling of coupons "up to 99 cents," Price Chopper failed to disclose this restriction in its advertisements leading consumers to believe that $1.00 coupons would be doubled. Prior to this corporate policy, Price Chopper's double coupon policies had previously varied from store to store. A number of stores doubled coupons up to $1.00 whereas others restricted the face value of coupons that could be doubled.

Coupons draw consumers into stores with valuable offers, leading to the purchase of other goods. Restrictions on double coupons, which can make a significant difference in savings, must be clear to consumers who shop on a budget. In just April and May of 2012, Price Chopper shoppers redeemed 34,616,602 coupons valued at $.99 or greater; approximately 8 million of these were valued at $1.00 or more.

The AG's office says that as part of the agreement, Price Chopper is "required to clearly and conspicuously disclose any face value limits on coupon redemption." It will also pay the state $100,000 in penalties and costs.

Price Chopper response

Price Chopper released a response to the AG's announcement Tuesday afternoon, disputing the way the agreement was described:

We were appalled and disappointed by the inflammatory press release distributed earlier today by the New York State Office of the Attorney General (OAG), as its portrayal of Price Chopper's conduct is false, misleading and inaccurate in significant respects, and is not supported by the Assurance of Discontinuance (AOD) to which Price Chopper agreed. In fact, contrary to the Press Release, the AOD makes no assertion that Price Chopper acted intentionally to harm consumers or that its practices caused any losses, let alone millions of lost savings to its customers. We've been in direct contact with the OAG to express our concerns and are awaiting their response.

What the OAG actually asserts in the AOD is that Price Chopper inconsistently denoted in its advertising the dollar value limit of its double coupon policy during select weeks in June 2011, January 2012 and April 2012 in Syracuse and Cortland, NY. Our decision to sign this agreement was reached after considering the likely cost of alternative actions, and because settling the matter will allow us to focus on serving our customers, including offering double coupons up to $.99 in all 130 of our stores.

Update: Here's the "assurance of discontinuation" from the state AG's office, as posted by the Syracuse Post-Standard. It makes the AG's office's issues with Price Chopper a bit more clear. The bulk of its complaint is an allegation that Price Chopper didn't note double coupon restrictions in some of its print ads, and that the policies posted at some stores differed from what was posted on the company's website.

By the way: Here are Price Chopper's coupon policies, as listed on its website. After the jump, links to the coupon policies for other supermarkets in the Capital Region...

Price Chopper announced today details for the "concept store" it's building at the location of its Latham store. The Chopper is pitching the project as "the most ambitious project ever undertaken" by the supermarket chain.

From the press release:

The most notable new feature will be a multi-faceted, full-service culinary offer in the form of 16 themed, fast-casual/cooked-fresh-to-order dining experiences, accompanied by in-store seating for 140 guests and seasonal outdoor seating. Among the moderately priced dining areas will be a Ben & Bill's NYC-Style deli; a Chef's Grill where a variety of specialty dishes - from steak to mussels to seafood to antipasto - will be prepared fresh for each guest; a Mexican themed restaurant featuring international flavors; a classic pizzeria, a meat rotisserie offering succulent pork and beef, in addition to poultry; an old-fashioned sub shop; a New England style fish fry restaurant, and a full-service salad and vegetarian/vegan bar, just to name a few. Other specialty restaurant concepts still being finalized will be unveiled in the coming months.

Also planned are a complete cooking school in which local/regional and national chefs and specialty instructors will teach recipes, techniques, trends and meal solutions for classes, parties and special events, the growing and harvesting of some fresh produce right in the store, and the building of a drive-through pharmacy.

More details and concept images are after the jump.

Price Chopper aiming to complete the store sometime in late 2013/early 2014. The company says it will also makeover eight of its other stores in the area over the next two year. Counting recently finished store remodels -- like the one in the Slingerlands -- PC says it will put almost $90 million into upgrading Capital Region stores.

Supermarket Week is back on AOA. All this week we'll have posts comparing, thinking, and talking about supermarkets. Hey, we all have to eat.

I've been hearing a lot lately about home grocery delivery. The new Albany ShopRite offers home delivery, and the Westgate Price Chopper recently rolled out a similar service (and made sure we knew about it -- we received Price Chopper flyers advertising the service in the mail every day for weeks).

I've been intrigued by the idea. After my daughter was born last year many things changed within our family, including my work schedule and our income. I usually do each week's shopping on my Mondays off, with my one-year-old in tow. Sometimes this is awesome. Sometimes it means rushing through the store doing everything I can to stave off a toddler meltdown ("Here, hold this bag of beans. No no, don't eat the bag. Ok, now we have to give it to the lady to scan. She'll give it back! I promise!") And then there's the part where I do a circus routine to get the baby and the groceries in the house.

The idea of having someone else do the shopping -- and deliver the goods to my door -- is very appealing. So recently I gave each service a go.

Maybe you've read Mimi Sheraton's The Bialy Eaters, in which the food writer travels the world in search of an authentic Bialystocker kuchen. There is actually a town in Poland called Bialystock, and at one point in time it was filled with Jews and bakeries that would churn out these hot, yeasty rolls which have only a passing similarity to bagels in that they are round.

From Ms. Sheraton's research, in the old country these were light and pillowy on the outside, with a crisp compressed center, which was filled with onions, poppy seeds, and bread crumbs. They were dusted with flour, baked in a wood or coal-fired oven, and came out with a thin, burnished brown crust.

After searching the world over, starting at Kossar's in New York City, and traveling to Poland, Israel, France and Argentina she came to a sad conclusion: One cannot find a Bialystocker kuchen like the ones made in that famous village before World War II. Most of the Jews from Bialystock were killed or driven into exile, and with them went the bialy.

That's not to say there aren't some delicious bialys around the world which come close. Oddly, the Capital Region was never mentioned in her book. However, if Mimi Sheraton ever made it out to the Price Chopper on Eastern Parkway, I think she would be quite pleased.

The supermarket chain is trying to frame the gas discount cut as a shift to more discounts on food. It says it's in the process of lowering prices on 10,000 products. Said Price Chopper inresponse to critical comments on the company's Facebook page:

We have had an overwhelming number of customers tell us that they want to save more money on food. We are lowering prices all over the store and our ads will be hotter than ever. ... We will also be offering even more ways to earn fuel rewards in our ads though the purchases of specific products...Check it out this Sunday!

The gasoline discount isn't some sort of fundamental human right. The company doesn't owe it to anyone. But it did help mitigate Price Chopper's often higher non-sale prices (though not necessarily enough to bring them in line with competitors). It'll be interesting to see if the change actually does result in lower food prices -- and in what way (sales, coupons, whatever).

The new Albany ShopRite opens this Thursday. If the opening of the Niskayuna location is any indication, the scene will probably be a zoo. Such is the product of the Capital Region's apparent supermarket obsession.

We were invited to check out the new Albany store today, and went for two reasons: 1) to gawk at perfectly stocked aisles and 2) to maybe find out why ShopRite has decided to build four stores in the Albany area -- and why now.

CR says the survey is a measure of "overall satisfaction" -- and differences of fewer than five points in a supermarket score are not meaningful. Also: "These findings represent the experiences of our readers, not necessarily those of the general population."

About Trader Joe's... A few people have asked if there's an opening date, yet. As of two weeks ago, the company said it still didn't have a date.

Over the last month or so we've noticed signs popping up on dairy cases at both Hannaford and Price Chopper noting that there's an organic milk shortage. And the shelves in the case have appeared rather bare at times. (We were the ones who took the last half-gallon of organic milk at the Slingerlands Price Chopper the other day. Sorry about that.)

Thursday was the official groundbreaking for the Vista Technology Campus in Slingerlands. A lot of the attention was focused on one of the tenants already signed up: ShopRite. That makes three stores now officially announced/open for the area (there's a fourth planned for Colonie). ShopRite continues what appears to be a strategy to go to head-to-head with Price Chopper -- the Vista ShopRite is pretty much be right across the road from the Slingerlands Chopper. [Spotlight] [YNN]

Planning for the Vista site has been going on for a few years -- but Thursday's announcements would seem to indicate it's picking up momentum. It's a potentially significant development project. The site includes 150 acres of land planned for development. And the developer -- Columbia Development -- says its plan includes up 1.4 million square feet of office, research and manufacturing facilities, medical office, and retail space.

A screengrab from October 20, 2011. Here's a larger version. (We removed the Google toolbar at the top.)

Updated at 3:30 pm after hearing from Wakefern/ShopRite.

The Golub Corp -- which owns Price Chopper -- is suing the cooperative behind ShopRite over ads the cooperative allegedly bought on Google, the Times Union first reported today. Golub is alleging trademark infringement, false designation of origin and unfair competition. (We pulled the filing -- it's embedded after the jump.)

We noticed the ads last week while looking up some stuff about Price Chopper. A search for "Price Chopper" on October 20 returned the regular search results -- and at the top: a text ad for ShopRite. We took a screengrab (above) and figured we might eventually use it as evidence in what appears to a supermarket war that's starting to heat up.

Golub saw the situation rather differently. From the filing:

Upon information and belief, Defendant Wakefern has infringed Plaintiff Golub's registered mark in interstate commerce by various acts, including purchasing keywords including or relating to the PRICE CHOPPER® mark and engaging in Internet advertising campaigns using the PRICE CHOPPER® mark, to sell, offer for sale and advertise Wakefern's retail grocery goods and/or services. Defendant's use of the PRICE CHOPPER® mark is without permission or authority of Plaintiff Golub and such use by Defendant is likely to cause confusion, to cause mistake and/or to deceive.

Golub alleges Wakefern also bought similar ads on Bing and Yahoo (and it includes screengrabs in the filing).

To access Shops4U, Price Chopper customers simply go to the online ordering tab on www.pricechopper.com and pull down the menu for Shops4U. Once they register, customers can pick and choose from among tens of thousands of food items carried in their local Price Chopper store. Orders can be picked up at the store or delivered to homes, offices or community gathering spaces in the Niskayuna area.

In addition to the online component, Shops4U also allows customers to interact with specially trained Price Chopper teammates who will go through the store to select the best in fresh meat, produce and seafood, along with bakery and packaged grocery items. When a customer places an order online, the pick-up time is indicated. The order will be selected and ready at that time for pick up. The customer need only drive up to the designated pick-up parking spots in front of the Niskayuna store and call the phone number indicated on the sign there. The grocery order will be brought out to the car, where the guest can pay by credit card and drive off, without ever having to leave the car.

Delivery orders will be brought to the home, business or community gathering space by Price Chopper's professional delivery staff within a designated time period.

The service costs $10, plus another $5.99 for delivery (with a discount for the first order, and every fifth order after that). The full press release is pasted after the jump.

The company says it plans to eventually extend the service to all of its stores.

So what's in Schweddy Balls? From Ben & Jerry's site: "vanilla ice cream with a hint of rum and is loaded with fudge covered rum and milk chocolate malt balls." Reviews of the flavor have been... mixed. [NY Mag Grub Street]

The Ben & Jerry's scoop shop on Lark Street in Albany says the flavor is currently available there (it was sold out as of the evening of September 12). The RPI scoop shop says it might have the flavor this weekend. And the Saratoga shop says maybe by the end of next week.

This story is so odd -- and outrageous -- that we met it with great skepticism when we encountered it late Monday afternoon. But as the story quickly spread across the web Monday night, large parts of it appear to be true.

Price Chopper says the Local Ocean fish will be available in six stores Hudson, Shoppers World in Clifton Park, Loudon Plaza in Latham, Bethlehem, Niskayuna and Saratoga Springs (Route 50). It'll be $9.99 a pound.

Here's how it works: This discount is based on 10 cents/gallon up to 20 gallon discount for gas. So for every $50 you spend at Price Chopper (while swiping your AdvantEdge card, of course), they'll knock $2 off the price of an eligible bus pass (31 day rolling, 10 day trip, Star tickets). Spend $100, save $4 on a bus pass. Spend $150, save $6. And so on. (As with the discount for gas, the credits can be used once and expire after 90 days.)

The Chopper and CDTA are touting this program as maybe the first of its kind in the nation. They're running it for a 90-day trial period (now to May), "with the option to continue contingent upon its success."

We noticed this sign and cart when we walked into Hannaford on Central Ave in Albany the other day. It touts how much you could have saved if you bought the cart of items at Hannaford instead of Price Chopper. The items in the cart included stuff like macaroni and cheese, Nutrigrain bars and peanut butter.

Of course, Hannaford is going to set this up so it can come out on top. It proclaimed that the Chopper's "cart" was 14 percent more expensive. Price Chopper could probably pick its own cart and come out cheaper than Hannaford.

The first witnesses in the Joe Bruno trial took the stand yesterday. The head of an Albany investment firm testified that his consulting payments to Bruno increased after the senator became majority leader -- and that Bruno was responsible for bringing in $400,000 in revenue from labor unions. A former Bruno staff attorney testified that he "was not involved" in Bruno's business ventures, but did say he provided legal advice about agreements between Bruno and clients. [CapNews9] [Fox23] [TU]

Every time you spend $50 at the Chopper, you become eligible for a 10 cent/gallon discount at Sunoco

Those 10 cent discounts build on each other -- so if you spend $150 at the Chopper, you get a 30 cent/gallon discount on gas.

The grocery totals add up over the course of 90 days -- tracked by your AdvantEdge account.

You can "spend" your accumulated discount on a single gas purchase of up to 20 gallons.

Go back to step 1.

At least, that's how we think this works.

It's pretty easy to spend $200 at the Chopper over the course of a month. That would lead to a 40 cent/gallon gas discount. Depending on the size of your car, that could mean a discount of $4 or more on a fill-up.

Paul Tonko has endorsed Shawn Morris in the Albany mayoral race. Responded Jerry Jennings: "... the people behind me are the people that live in this city, that work in this city, and that will vote in this city." [TU] [CapNews9]

David Paterson has reached out to Joe Bruno to help him lobby Republican state Senators to support to the same-sex marriage bill. [Liz Benjamin]

The Saratoga County towns that had sued to hold up the Hudson dredging over concerns about their drinking water supply have dropped their suit. The dredging project is scheduled to start this month. [Daily Gazette]

Consumer Reports has released supermarket rankings based on a survey of thousands of its readers (you need to be a CR subscriber to see the whole list). And the results are going to cause people in the Capital Region with already-established supermarket envy turn even a few more shades green.

The Albany Common Council has scheduled sworn testimony in March from police department and union officials about the ghost ticket scandal. Officers called to testify will have to be paid three hours of overtime if the hearing doesn't occur during their regular shift. [TU]

A city attorney has told the Albany Common Council that its subpoena powers probably do not allow it to question the head of the police officers' union about the ghost ticket scandal. Councilman Corey Ellis has been pushing for the council to directly investigate the matter. [TU]

State police have arrested a man for an alleged murder from 40 years ago. Investigators say Nelson Costello murdered David Bacon over a woman. Costello, who most recently has been living in Arizona, was a part-time cop in the Town of Waterford in 1969. Bacon's disappearance had been deemed a missing persons case four decades ago. Officials haven't said what led them to treat the case as a murder, but they say they will probably release details later this week. [Daily Gazette] [TU] [Troy Record]

Former Schenectady police chief Greg Kaczmarek was sentenced to two years in prison yesterday for his involvement with a drug ring. Kaczmarek's wife, Lisa, was also sentenced yesterday -- she got six months. That sentence has drawn criticism for being too light, but Judge Karen Drago told Lisa Kaczmarek, "your culpability with respect to getting illegal drugs on the street was far less than your co-defendants." The busting of the organization has led to convictions for 24 people. [TU] [Daily Gazette] [TU]

AMD says it wants to start clearing the land for the Luther Forest chip fab in March and start construction in June. But first its board has to approve the spin-off of the company that will actually own the fab. [TU] [Daily Gazette]

Police say a man was stabbed multiple times early Sunday morning at Club 388 on Broadway in downtown Saratoga Springs. The victim was airlifted to Albany Med. Police arrested two men shortly after the incident -- the cops had been on patrol in the area. [CapNews9] [Daily Gazette] [Saratogian]

The Schenectady City Council passed a 2009 budget that does not include a tax increase. The budget proposed by Mayor Brian Stratton had called for a 2.9 percent hike. Stratton has said he would veto the budget if the council made significant cuts. [Daily Gazette]

At a John McCain rally in downtown Albany on Saturday, Jim Buhrmaster -- the Republican running for the 21st Congressional District (McNulty's seat) -- said "the silent majority" will push McCain over the top in the presidential race. At a nearby Barack Obama rally, Paul Tonko -- the Democrat running for the seat -- said the opportunity to elect Obama is "a great fortune." [Troy Record]

Albany police say a new witness has reported seeing a third teen on a bike ride away from the scene of Richard Bailey's murder. (Two earlier witnesses reported seeing two teens on bikes.) The APD says it still doesn't have any solid leads in the case. [TU]

Local police departments say they're stepping up patrols tonight for Halloween. Apparently stores will also be watching for teens with shopping carts full of "trickster items." [TU]

Check out this illustrated map of the US by cartoonist Dorothy Gambrell. She compiled the places most frequently mentioned in Missed Connections on Craigslist for each part of the country and then worked those names into the map. (Just have a look, it'll make more sense.)

Neil Kelleher -- former Troy mayor, longtime Republican member of the state Assembly, WWII veteran, and barber shop quartet singer -- died yesterday. He was 85. Both Republicans and Democrats hailed him as a friend. [Daily Gazette] [Troy Record]

Harry Tutunjian says there's "absolutely no health risk involved" with the discolored tap water in Troy. The water's orangish tint is apparently the result of higher levels of iron and manganese dissolved in the water. [TU]

A special prosecutor says he will not bring charges against two Troy cops accused of using excessive force after a January car chase that ended up in Menands. There's still a civil case in progress. [TU]

The City of Troy is considering the purchase of a system that can listen for gunfire and then triangulate the point from which the shots were fired. It costs $200,000 for the system to cover one square mile. [TU]

The almost-finished makeover of the Price Chopper on Central in Albany includes a new international aisle -- or to be more exact, two aisles that form a whole section. And it's fun! Really, it is. It's like the EPCOT of supermarket aisles. Here are a few things that caught our eye as we were browsing recently...

Price Chopper has a great deal on GE Energy Smart CFL bulbs from now until the end of the year. Single bulbs are only $1.99 (with AdvantEdge card, of course). The Chopper usually sells them for $6.49. Even at a big-box discount store like Target, they're usually about $5.50 for a single bulb. Even the Wal-Mart six pack isn't as cheap per bulb.

We've used a bunch of these bulbs in the past, and as CFLs go, they give off pretty nice light. And now they're a bargain.

So we picked a "basket" of 20 items that come in both name brand and store brand so we could find out how much we could save by going generic. And to make things a little more interesting, we tossed discount market Aldi into the mix. Here are the results...

You hear something once, you dismiss it. You hear it twice, you think, eh. But when you hear it five or six different places from people who are in no way connected to each other, you start to wonder. So, when we heard lots of folks repeating the rumor that Wegmans and Price Chopper had a sort of "gentlemen's agreement" to stay out of each others backyards, it definitely caught our interest.

And then we heard rumors that Wegmans might be making it's move on the Capital Region.

You asked and we found it! Price Chopper is carrying it in the special Passover sections at their larger stores. We scored our supply at the Chopper in Slingerlands.

What's the big deal? Well, normal Coke is made with high fructose corn syrup, which makes it not kosher for Passover. It also, according to soda snobs, makes Coke taste not quite right. Kosher for Passover Coke, on the other hand, is made with cane sugar (like Mexican Coke) and is said to be smoother and have a cleaner finish. It also has notes of cinnamon and caramel and pairs nicely with pretzel twists.

How do you know if you're getting the good stuff? Look for the tell-tale yellow cap (see right). And check the ingredients, which will list "sucrose" instead of high-fructose corn syrup.

We were curious, so we decided to find out. AOA put together a "basket" of 40 items that we thought could reasonably end up in most shopping carts in any given week. Then we checked the prices of these items at Price Chopper, Wal-Mart and Hannaford. Here are the results:

It looks like the developer behind Harmony Mills condos in Cohoes will get a shot to redevelop the Victory Mills building outside Saratoga. Fun fact about the Victory Mills building: they used to make the wrappers for the old Listerine glass bottles there. [Saratogian]

Skidmore scored almost $57 million in charitable contributions last year. That's tops among colleges and universities in the Capital Region and good for 8th in the nation. The bulk of the money came from a donation by Arthur Zankel. [Business Review]

The Scoop

Ever wish you had a smart, savvy friend with the inside line on what's happening around the Capital Region? You know, the kind of stuff that makes your life just a little bit better? Yeah, we do, too. That's why we created All Over Albany. Find out more.

Community support follow slurs People in Wynantskill have been rallying support for a couple whose house was vandalized with anti-gay slurs -- and a local... (more)

Recent Comments

The state of our roads makes it too dangerous for me to want to use my bike to go to work. It's scary enough to walk/jog around town and have people fly through stop signs/lights when I'm using intersections... and on a bike it's that much worse if you attempt to bike legally in the street. This would be a great start to making our community more safe in general.
We have to start somewhere.